Jean Geran: The needs of children are best served by family-based alternatives to institutional care

Jean Geran is a senior fellow at the Legatum Institute. She served as the director for democracy and human rights on the National Security Council at the White House and was a Member of the Policy Planning Staff at the U.S. Department of State, responsible for issues including democracy, human rights, trafficking in persons, women, children, refugees, governance and rule of law.

Strong and healthy families are not only critical for fixing a broken Britain, they also are the best line of protection for millions of children around the world who have been orphaned, abandoned or otherwise separated from their parents.  Without a family, millions of children globally are vulnerable to abuse, exploitation, trafficking and emotional trauma.  They are languishing in care institutions, enslaved in brothels or brick kilns, forced to fight as soldiers, abandoned, or living alone in refugee camps or on the streets.  We must work together more effectively to rescue and place these children in families who will protect and care for them.

The care of a family is critical for the physical, emotional and psychological development of any child, especially in the early years.  Strengthening families to prevent separation is the best way to ensure that each child grows up in a safe and loving family but social ills inevitably lead to separation.  Conservative plans to support marriage and strengthen families could go a long way in addressing this challenge here in Great Britain.  But as several related Centre for Social Justice reports reveal about children in care, gangs,  early years intervention, family breakdown and family law, there is a lot that needs fixing.  There are over 60,000 children in care, with adoption rates at a 10-year low and demand for foster families at an all time high.  

While there are pockets of excellence around the country, the adoption system as a whole is a mess, especially as it relates to ethnic minority child placements.  An Adoption Research Initiative Study finds that in a sample of looked after children from three local authorities with large minority ethnic populations, 83% of white children were in adoptive placements with only 42% and 36% of black or Asian children placed respectively.  In addition, 60% of the Asian children and 42% of the black children have had their adoption plan rescinded.  This is due both to a dearth of ethnic minority families willing to adopt and an overly narrow application of ethnic matching criteria for adoption decisions.

Jean Geran is a senior fellow at the Legatum Institute. She served as the director for democracy and human rights on the National Security Council at the White House and was a Member of the Policy Planning Staff at the U.S. Department of State, responsible for issues including democracy, human rights, trafficking in persons, women, children, refugees, governance and rule of law.

Strong and healthy families are not only critical for fixing a broken Britain, they also are the best line of protection for millions of children around the world who have been orphaned, abandoned or otherwise separated from their parents.  Without a family, millions of children globally are vulnerable to abuse, exploitation, trafficking and emotional trauma.  They are languishing in care institutions, enslaved in brothels or brick kilns, forced to fight as soldiers, abandoned, or living alone in refugee camps or on the streets.  We must work together more effectively to rescue and place these children in families who will protect and care for them.

The care of a family is critical for the physical, emotional and psychological development of any child, especially in the early years.  Strengthening families to prevent separation is the best way to ensure that each child grows up in a safe and loving family but social ills inevitably lead to separation.  Conservative plans to support marriage and strengthen families could go a long way in addressing this challenge here in Great Britain.  But as several related Centre for Social Justice reports reveal about children in care, gangs,  early years intervention, family breakdown and family law, there is a lot that needs fixing.  There are over 60,000 children in care, with adoption rates at a 10-year low and demand for foster families at an all time high.  

While there are pockets of excellence around the country, the adoption system as a whole is a mess, especially as it relates to ethnic minority child placements.  An Adoption Research Initiative Study finds that in a sample of looked after children from three local authorities with large minority ethnic populations, 83% of white children were in adoptive placements with only 42% and 36% of black or Asian children placed respectively.  In addition, 60% of the Asian children and 42% of the black children have had their adoption plan rescinded.  This is due both to a dearth of ethnic minority families willing to adopt and an overly narrow application of ethnic matching criteria for adoption decisions.

Jean Geran: An open letter of thanks to the British military

Jean Geran is a senior fellow at the Legatum Institute. She served as the director for democracy and human rights on the National Security Council at the White House and as an abuse prevention officer on the US Disaster Assistance Response Team in southern Iraq. On a weekend when we have been remembering those who sacrificed their lives on D-Day in 1944, Jean takes the opportunity to show her appreciation to the British military, especially those who have served in Iraq over recent years.

To Members of the British Armed Services,

As an American now living in London who worked in Iraq, it was very poignant for me to watch the ceremony in March marking the end of your combat service there.  It reminded me of those early days of the conflict in 2003 when I was serving as an Abuse Prevention Officer on the civilian U.S. Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART).

We were the first civilians to enter Iraq as secured areas became permissive, and we were charged with overseeing the provision of humanitarian assistance to the Iraqi people.  On our first trip into the port of Um Qasr just over the border from Kuwait, we met then Lt Col Buster Howes of 42 Commando Royal Marines.  Our small unarmed team had been escorted across the border by heavily armed U.S. Marines, but Lt Col Howes and his men had already put away their heavy armour and battle weapons to be more accessible and to build trust with the local population.  

He welcomed us warmly, probably because he knew the importance of getting assistance and aid flowing to Iraqis as quickly as possible.  Sadly, I fear he may have ended up frustrated with us as our civilian aid systems were not set up to move money quickly in places where no NGOs were functioning.  Though progress has been made over the years, the challenges of post-conflict reconstruction and civilian-military coordination continue to hinder our collective efforts in fragile states around the world.  This is an area where we all must focus on collaborating more effectively and improving our support for Iraqis, Afghans and all those others struggling to rebuild their own countries.